Airship.



J. c. scH-LEIGHBB. 1

AIRSHIP. APPLICATION FILED JUHEJQZ, 1910.

Patented Sept. 5,1911.

` 2 SHEETS-SHEET?.

U N l'lED STATES JOHN C. SCHLEICHER, OF MOUNT VERNON, NEVI YORK4AIRSHIP.

Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 15H l..

Application filed .Tune 22, 1910. Serial No. 568,323.

To all whom it muy concern.

lle it known that l, Joins C. SCHLEIGHER, a. citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Mount Vernon, in the county of Westchester and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAirships, of which the following is a specifica` tion.

My invention relates to airs'hips.

lt has tor its object to provide pairs of rudders pivoted off center andat an angle at the front and rear of an airship andV adapted forsteering, turning, elevating, lowering, stopping and preventing thefalling of the ship and to cause it' when turning to tilt. to that sideto which it is turning so as to make it turn quickly and easily, saidrudders being inanuallyoperated to steer, turn, elevate, lower andprevent the falling of the Ship and also automatically operated toprevent the falling of the ship,

It has for a further obj ect to provide pro pellers atthe front and rearof an airship adapted to elevate, stop and support the ship at restinthe air.

1t has for a further object to provide a device of the character aboveset forth enibodying advantages in pointof perfect op eration andsimple, strong, light and inexpensive construction.

In the drawings: Figure l is a central longitudinal sectional vlew of myairship. Fig. 2, a side. elevation, showing the airship in the positionit assumes when rising from 3e the ground and when atrest in the air.Fig.

3, a partial horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1,parts'being omitted. Fig. 4, a partial transverse sectional view, takenon the line 4-4 'of Fig. 1, parts being omitted, and Fig. 5, a -partialtransverse sectional view, taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. l, partsbeingomitted.

Referring to the drawings illustrating my invention and in which likereference characiers designate corresponding parts, 1 and 2 designatethe upper and lower planes re- ,peetively of m airship which are con-;ieeted 'in,space' relation by standards 3. The upper plane is formed bytwo walls of light 'strong material for instance c anvas,

`ha ving s( rips 5 interposed between and bracing thenr` the ends of thecentral longitudinal strip projecting beyond the canvas and,

the front end thereof being bent downward .1. en'angle. AThe lower planeis formed by two spaced walls, of light strong material for instancewood, the space between said walls forming an air chamber adapted tofloat the plane in the water. A. recess T is provided through the lower`plane and an .engine S is mounted therein so that it will be as low andas little exposed as possible, thereby adapting it to serve to steadythe ship and offer the least possible resistance to thepassage of airthrough the passage be tween the planes and consequently it will retardthe ship as little as possible.

fheels 9 are journaled upon the under Side of the lower plane so as toprovide means for allowing the ship to be moved easily over tlie groundin starting and also to protect the lower plane from injury whenlanding.

The propellers 10 for driving the ship are secured on the ends of'ashaft 11 mounted in journals on the standards 3. The shaft 1l is drivenby the engine 8, being operatively connected therewith by a sprocketchain 12 engaging a sprocket wheel 13 on said shaft and a sprocket.wheel 14 on the drive shaft 15 of the engine.

Rudders 1G are piyoted on -shatts 17 at each corner of the ship, oli"center and on an incline or at anangle and are adapted for steering,turning, elevating, lowering, stopping and prevent-ing the falling ofthe ship and to cause it when turning to tilt 'to that side to which itis turning so as to enable it to turn quickly and easily. The ruddersoperate automatically to prevent the falling of the ship, when'itplunges, forward or rearward for the reason that the greater part ofeach front rudder extends forward of its pivot' and the greater partI ofeach rear rudder extends rearward of its pivot, thereby oering a greatersurface for the air to bear a ainst forward of the pivot 'of the frontrud ers and consequently causingtheir forward end s. to move outwardlyandth'eir rear ends to move inwardly, and offering a greater surface forthe air to bear against rearward of the pivot of the rear rudders andconsequently causin their rearward ends to move outwardly and forwardends to move inwardly.

The rudders are manually operatable singly or in pairs, to steer, turn.elevate, lower, stop, prevent the falling of the ship and cause it whenturning to tilt to that side. to

which it is turning, byineans of levers 18 their .i

pivoted on the lower plane and having ropes 19 operatively connect-ingthe rudders thereto, the ropes passing through the rudders and beingconnected to the arnis 2O extending laterally from ,said rudders andtheir ends being .connected to the levers.

At the rear of the ship propellers 21 are secured on a vertical shaft 22journaled at its upper end in the rear end of one of the strips 5 and atits lower end inthe rear end of a strip 23 extending rearwardly from thelower plane and said shaft is operatively connected with the drive shaftof the engine byV means of a shaft Ql, oneend of which isconnected by aclutch to the drive shaft of the engine and the other end having a gear26't-l1ereon meshing with a gear 27 on the shaft At -the front of theship propellers 28 are secured Aon an inclined shaft 29 journaled at itsupper end in the forward end of the strip 5, in which the upper end ofthe rear propeller shaft 22. is journaled, and at its lower end in abracket 30secured to the front end of the strip Q3 and saidshaft isoperatively connected with the drive shaft of the engine by means of ashaft 3l, one end of which is, connected by a elutc'h.32 t'o the driveshaft of the engine and the other end having a gear 33 thereon meshingwith a gear 34 on the shaft 29.

Then the ship is'afloat in the air and it is desired to'stop and hold itat rest, by

.means of the Propellers 28, the front pro pellers are started, whichraises the front end of the ship and places it on an incline,

as shown in Flg. 2 of the drawings, the rear propellers are then startedand finally the engine .slowed down suiciently so as not to pair ofrudders between said planes at each end and inclined laterally7 from thevertical, the. rudders of each 'pair being operat-able toward and fromeach other and the front pair of rudders being inclined in the oppositedirect-ion to the rear pair of rudders, substantially as described.

3. In an ail-ship, planes spaced apart, a pairof rudders fulcrunledbetween the front ends of said planes and inclined outwardly from thevertical, and a pair of rudders fulcrmncd between the rear ends of saidplanes and mellned inwardly from the Yertical,v said rudders belngnormally parallel lo the line of flight and the rudders of each pairbeing operatable toward and from 4each other, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my naine in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JOHN C. SCHLEICHER.

Witnesses: y

Jos. T. MULuGAN, MARGARET BLANCO.

